Former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his entire Cabinet shown the door as the party infuses young ministers in the government
Our Bureau
New Delhi
A total of 24 ministers took oath on Thursday as part of the Gujarat Cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony. Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to the newly inducted ministers at Raj Bhawan in Gandhinagar in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and former CM Vijay Rupani. Rajendra Trivedi, the former Speaker of State Assembly, was also inducted as minister in the Cabinet.
Harsh Sanghvi, Jagdish Panchal, Brijesh Merja, Jitu Choudhary, Manisha Vakil, Kanubhai Desai, Kiritsinh Rana, Naresh Patel, Pradip Parmar, Arjunsinh Chauhan, Jitu Vaghani, Rushikesh Patel, Purnesh Modi, Raghavji Patel, Mukesh Patel, Nimisha Suthar, Arvind Raiyani, Kuber Dindor, Kirtisinh Vaghela, Ganjedra Parmar, Raghvbhai Makwana, Vinod Moradia, Devabhai Malam have been sworn-in as the ministers in Gujarat’s cabinet.
Earlier on Monday, Bhupendra Patel took oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. The party is counting on Patel to shore up the party’s fortunes ahead of the assembly elections towards the end of next year. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state’s 182 Assembly seats and Congress got 77 seats.
Denying the presence of anti-incumbency sentiments against Vijay Rupani government, Gujarat BJP in-charge Bhupender Yadav said on Thursday that the appointment of first-time Chief Minister and cabinet ministers is to give opportunities to new leaders in the party.
Congratulating Gujarat’s new CM Bhupendra Patel and newly-inducted ministers, the Union minister said, “The BJP works as a team. Therefore, the way the party works with consistency and continuity, it is the responsibility of the party to provide a platform for a new bunch of leaders.” “In order to groom new leadership in the BJP and give more opportunities to the various people from different social backgrounds, the party is adopting a new tradition,” he added.
Denying the news of outgoing ministers disappointed with the party for their removal from the post, the BJP Gujarat in charge said, “The decision was taken after deliberation with the outgoing ministers and they were present during the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers.”
He also said that the party would win the upcoming election in 2022 with a 3/4th majority.
Congratulating the new Gujarat Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the 24 ministers who took oath as part of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s cabinet are “outstanding Karyakartas” who have devoted their lives to public service.
“Congratulations to all Party colleagues who have taken oath as Ministers in the Gujarat Government. These are outstanding Karyakartas who have devoted their lives to public service and spreading our Party’s development agenda. Best wishes for a fruitful tenure ahead,” tweeted PM Modi.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel on Monday claimed that people in Gujarat do not have expectations from newly sworn Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and said that the leadership in the state was changed due to resentment among the people.
The Congress leader said that replacing CM will not have any impact in Gujarat as the people are in ‘mood’ to change the power in the state. Speaking to ANI, Patel said, “There is a lot of resentment against the BJP in Gujarat and that is why the Chief Minister has been changed. During the regime of Vijay Rupani, many youths lost their jobs, many lost their loved ones due to COVID. Changing the CM is a conspiracy of BJP but the people in Gujarat are all set to change the power in the state.”
The Congress leader also alleged that BJP has been continuously doing injustice to Deputy CM of Gujarat Nitin Patel.
“I have told Nitin Bhai to join us with his supporters. We will provide all the support he needs,” he said. “A chief minister holds the responsibility of over 6.5 crore population not just the responsibility of a caste. People in Gujarat do not have expectations from Bhupendra Patel as their Chief Minister,” he added.
